Messaging consent must be separate from terms acceptance
The requirementstatement
The messaging opt-in must be its own control, not bundled into a general "I accept the Terms and Privacy Policy" checkbox.
- Severityseverity
- BlockingBLOCKINGBreaking this rule gets the submission rejected. There is no partial credit.
- When it bitesphase
- Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
- What is checkedobject
- consent surface
- Where it liveslayer
- Consent flowCONSENT_FLOW
- How Ekas settles itdetectability
- AI · crawlCRAWLAI · visionVISION
- Needs your live site or policy page fetched and read. Ekas crawls it the way a reviewer would. Needs the pixels: a screenshot of the opt-in surface, a scanned paper form, an MMS attachment.
- What the fix involvesfailureClass
- Fix the websiteTERMINAL_WEBSITE
- The fix lives on your site. No amount of rewording the form clears it.
- Who requires itauthorities
- CTIATCRTwilioAWS
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies when consent was collected by web form, checkout, account settings, third party and point of sale.
Why this rule existsrationale
A consumer ticking a box to create an account is agreeing to the account, not to marketing texts. Bundling makes the messaging consent unprovable — you cannot show a reviewer, or a court, that the tick meant yes to SMS specifically.
How to fix itremediation
Split into two adjacent checkboxes: one for accepting the Terms and Privacy Policy, one for agreeing to receive text messages. Only the second one is your consent record.
A compliant exampleexample
☐ I agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. ☐ Text me: I agree to receive recurring automated marketing text messages from Acme Coffee. Consent is not a condition of any purchase. Msg frequency varies. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
Rules you will hit next
6 other rules read consent surface. Fixing one field to satisfy a single rule is how a resubmission trades one rejection for another, so read these before you change anything.
CON-043A mandatory phone field needs its own separate, optional SMS opt-inBlockingBLOCKINGCON-108The disclosure must be on the same page as the phone-number fieldBlockingBLOCKINGCON-AGE-GATEAge-gated programs require real age verification at opt-inBlockingBLOCKINGCON-BOX-PRESENTAn explicit affirmative opt-in control must existBlockingBLOCKINGCON-BOX-UNCHECKEDThe consent control must be unchecked by defaultBlockingBLOCKINGCON-DISC-ADJACENTDisclosures must appear at the point of opt-in, not only in linked documentsBlockingBLOCKING
CON-BOX-BUNDLED is one of 101 consent flow rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.